Several themes struck by President Biden resonated with me, especially:
- His pragmatism, doing one thing at a time, one step at a time. He intends to do all he can to keep his campaign promises, and he invoked the dictum, Politics is the art of the possible. He is prepared, if necessary, to dump the filibuster (though that's not up to him).
- His bipartisan appeal to voters (as opposed to elected Republicans), especially on economic issues. Reminded of Mitch McConnell's criticism of Biden's program ("hard left," according to the minority leader), the president responded that Republican voters were with him on his first legislative victory.
- His commitment to voting rights and outrage at Republicans' nationwide efforts to restrict voting. He surely knows what's at stake.
- His intention (after 4 decades of Reaganomics, though the 40th president went unmentioned) to change the economic paradigm. He contrasted congressional Republicans' fealty to the richest Americans with Democratic commitments to middle- and working-class Americans, and even gave a shout-out to labor unions.
- His view that the U.S.-China competition includes a global battle of democracy vs. autocracy. After four years of open, servile admiration of Putin and other strongmen, even a "love affair" with Kim Jong-un, this marked perhaps the starkest contrast between President Biden and Donald Trump.
The first question for Biden began by noting that the President had touted his progress on COVID-19, but not the country’s other “defining challenges.” Biden responded:
[L]ook, when I took office, I decided that it was a fairly basic, simple proposition, and that is: I got elected to solve problems. And the most urgent problem facing the American people, I stated from the outset, was COVID-19 and the economic dislocation for millions and millions of Americans.
He pledged to take action on problems “one at a time, … as many simultaneously as we can.” Later (when asked about addressing gun control) he again invoked timing:
As you’ve all observed, successful presidents — better than me — have been successful, in large part, because they know how to time what they’re doing — order it, decide and prioritize what needs to be done.
The next major initiative is — and I’ll be announcing it Friday in Pittsburgh, in detail — is to rebuild the infrastructure — both physical and technological infrastructure in this country — so that we can compete and create significant numbers of really good-paying jobs. Really good-paying jobs.
On the filibuster, Biden asked (referencing a suggestion by Jim Clyburn), “Why not back a filibuster rule that at least gets around issues including voting rights or immigration?”
Among his remarks regarding changes to the filibuster rule, Biden again mentioned his pragmatism:
But here’s the deal: As you observed, I’m a fairly practical guy. I want to get things done. I want to get them done, consistent with what we promised the American people.
. . .
I — we’re going to get a lot done. And if we have to — if there’s complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then we’ll have to go beyond what I’m talking about.
Asked specifically about a possible failure to pass voting rights legislation leading to Democratic losses in 2022, Biden responded:
What I’m worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. It’s sick. It’s sick. Deciding in some states that you cannot bring water to people standing in line, waiting to vote; deciding that you’re going to end voting at five o’clock when working people are just getting off work; deciding that there will be no absentee ballots under the most rigid circumstances.
Again drawing a distinction between elected officials and voters, he expressed the conviction that Republican voters would (when they learned what was happening, which he characterized as amped up “Jim Crow”) oppose voter suppression activities as “despicable.”
I mean, this is gigantic what they’re trying to do, and it cannot be sustained.
I’m going to do everything in my power, along with my friends in the House and the Senate, to keep that from — from becoming the law.
In response to questions about his running for reelection with Kamala Harris in 2024, he said he wasn’t thinking that far ahead. In fact, his eye was on a fundamental democratic goal for the economy:
I mean, look, this is — the way I view things — I’ve become a great respecter of fate in my life. I set a goal that’s in front of me to get things done for the people I care most about, which are hardworking, decent American people who are getting — really having it stuck to them.
I want to change the paradigm. I want to change the paradigm. We start to reward work, not just wealth. I want to change the paradigm.
Biden contrasted Congressional Republicans unworried about the fiscal effects of multi-trillion dollar tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefitted the top 1%, while being unwilling to support an economic package aimed at Americans who work for a living and stretch to make ends meet:
[L]ook, I meant what I said when I ran. And a lot of you still think I’m wrong, and I respect that. I said, “I’m running for three reasons: to restore the soul, dignity, honor, honesty, transparency to the American political system; two, to rebuild the backbone of this country — the middle class, hardworking people, and people struggling to get in the middle class. They built America, and unions built them.” The third reason I said I was running was to unite the country. And, generically speaking, all of you said, “No, you can’t do that.” Well, I’ve not been able to unite the Congress, but I’ve been uniting the country, based on the polling data. We have to come together. We have to.
Again, he remained pragmatic:
So, from my perspective, you know, it’s a — to me, it’s about just, you know, getting out there, putting one foot in front of the other and just trying to make things better for people — just hardworking people. People get up every morning and just want to figure out how to put food on the table for their kids, to be able have a little bit of breathing room, being able to have — make sure that they go to bed not staring at the ceiling, like my dad, wondering whether — since he didn’t have health insurance, what happens if mom gets sick or he got sick. These are basic things. Basic things.
And I’m of the view that the vast majority of people, including registered Republicans, by and large, share that — that same — that same view, that same sense of what is — you know, what’s appropriate.
Biden spoke at length about the U.S. relationship with China. He mentioned his relationship with Xi Jinping, the “strong competition” between the two countries, and his commitment to rebuild U.S. alliances to hold China accountable.
In addition, he justified the next legislative focus of his administration – on infrastructure, Build Back Better – not only on the jobs it would create, but on the imperative to compete effectively with our nation’s greatest international rival. He pointed out that China’s investment in infrastructure exceeded by more than three times that of the United States. There was a time when such a challenge would yield strong bipartisan support. I don’t expect it this time, at least not from the Congressional GOP.
Strikingly, Biden’s remarks highlighted the international competition between democracy and autocracy, which pits the U.S. and other democratic countries in opposition to China, Russia, and much of the world.
Look around the world. We’re in the midst of a fourth industrial revolution of enormous consequence. Will there be middle class? How will people adjust to these significant changes in science and technology and the environment? How will they do that? And are democracies equipped — because all the people get to speak — to compete?
It is clear, absolutely clear — and most of the scholars I dealt with at Penn agree with me around the country — that this is a battle between the utility of democracies in the 21st century and autocracies.
If you notice, you don’t have Russia talking about communism anymore. It’s about an autocracy. Demand decisions made by a leader of a country — that’s what’s at stake here. We’ve got to prove democracy works.
At one time, much of the GOP would rally around this crusade. Sadly, the Republican Party is more committed to extinguishing democracy at home than bolstering it in the international community.
In my view, Joe Biden, thus far, has met the moment. He has a plan and he has stuck with it in a disciplined and focused way. He has kept most of the country with him.
At some point, sooner rather than later, he is going to hit a brick wall and then we'll see how he maneuvers to go over it, around it, or through it -- and how his congressional allies respond. He can't afford to lose, not if he expects Democrats to have any chance in 2022 of holding onto their majorities in the House and the Senate. There won't be many victories with Republicans in charge of either chamber.
